#Kevin: raised in a cult

[thoushaltnotlive]

Kandrile in a nutshell:

repressed gay X2 / clueless ace

In other words *pining intensified*

#Kevin: raised in a cult #Andrew: refuses to talk about his feelings #Neil: little to no concept of attraction #Also it doesn't help that all of them are grade A assholes #they are so dumb #i love them #aftg #neil josten #andrew minyard #kevin day #all for the game #the foxhole court #kandreil #andriel #kevneil #kevandreil

[mudstoneabyss]

Charles is the type of guy who seems like he'd want to learn about his town and its history even if it's not relevant to him so must be hard when so much of it people refuse to talk about. he doesn't have a straight answer as to what Strex's whole deal is and what's with that scientist who's mentioned in so many historical buildings who looks uncannily like him

#Kevin eventually tells him about Strex but he tells him considerably less so about Carlos #and also what Kevin tells him about Strex doesnt line up with what the og db townsfolk tell him about Strex with what the nv townsfolk #tell him about Strex with what Lauren tells him about Strex #hes really having to fight to puzzle this out without crossing anyones boundaries or stepping on any toes #I love the idea of Lauren having been born during Strex and after the creation of the Joyous Congregation so her relationship with those #are those with someone who was born and raised in any other cult; I'm especially thinking of ones like Mormonism here #and her brainwashing- as opposed to Kevin's indoctrinated kind- is intrinsic #so post Strex being brought down is the first time she's ever been confronted with Maybe Strex Is Bad and it Doesnt Have To Be Like That #and idk. I think her and Charles talk about it. a little. as much as she's willing to open up #also her desert otherworld situation fucks me up. Carlos and Kevin didnt have to eat so why was she dehydrated and starving the whole time? #does tdow just retain the state youre in when you enter it? why would she have already been in that situation then? #''because Finknor's inconsistent'' shut up. play in this space with me. believe everything's intentional bc its more fun than believing #that theyre mistakes #wtnv #joyousposting #i need to relisten to some of Dana's talk about tdow to see if there's anything there that continues the Dana/Lauren parallels

[dayurno]

man all the foxes had hard lives but sometimes when i sit down and think about kevin i'm like damn this person wasn't even in the same playing field as his teammates. he was raised captive in a cult and violently forced into extreme child labor up until the day he left?! he was thrust into the spotlight at an early age and had every movement of his life meticulously choreographed?! he was raised to depend on a master x pet relationship with one of his captors?! he literally could not move a step without riko's acknowledgement?! the labor violations only would give a labor lawyer years of work. can you imagine if we talked about all the other different kinds of extensive abuse too

#i feel like people dont understand the full scope of it because its So Much to take in #but its seriously Horrifying if you think about it #hes not just ostracized in the foxes group hes entirely removed from their reality #like after a certain threshold my brother you and a person who had a 'bad' childhood have nothing in common #ebcause yours wasnt just bad. brother it was beyond bad #brother it was 'a little life' by hanya yanagihara bad #brother i pray one day youll recover even a fraction of who you were before. all of this #txt #kevin

[detectivebambam]

Kevin:

watches a man get cut into pieces, literally being tortured to death in the most brutal way possible at the ripe age of eight

gets abused and tortured to the brink of insanity

was told his whole life that he is Riko's pet, and is not to disobey him or Tetsuji

^ does anyway

has to watch, and often help torture his best friend, who is two years younger than him

's mother died and left him in a cult when he was in elementary school

didn't know his own father until he was 15

begged in every langauge he knew to stop being tortured

's headboard didn't move an inch. Neil was in his spot for two weeks, and survived not because he didn't break, but because Jean did. Neil said he'd never been in so much pain.

was not raised as a human being

is owned by the Yakuza, a notorious and insanely powerful mafia

was raised to be an athlete and nothing else, then broke his hand and thought he'd never play again, meaning he'd be killed

is a Fox through and through

fought his way through a cult mindset to the point that he can have fun with his friends, eat ice cream, sleep when he feels like it, etc.

cares tremendously about his Foxes

makes deals with people who have nothing else to live for in order to keep them alive

is twenty two years old. is only 4 years out of high school. is a literal child, and WAS a literal child when he left EAU

some random ass anons who probably read the books when they were 13 and haven't taken their heads out of their asses since then:

kEviN dAy iS a cOwaRd !?!???!!!!!!

shut the fuck up I'm so done with this. these people have no fucking clue what they're talking about and i guarantee most of them are just looking for attention and trying to get a rise out of people.

it stops being fictional when people who went through the same shit he did have to see a bunch of people talking out of their ass about things they don't and never will understand

#aftg #all for the game #andrew minyard #the foxhole court #nora sakavic #neil josten #kevin day #the sunshine court #jean moreau #andreil #tetsuji moriyama #riko moriyama #eau ravens #psu foxes #kayleigh day #david wymack

[ninyard]

Heyy! You said someone should ask you about Kevin under this post about Kevin's struggles from the nest of which we don't know enough... So I'm asking you about Kevin! Please tell us your Kevin thoughts! You always make very good points and I like reading your thoughts!!

cody my friend I am so glad you asked but you might regret it. i hope you're prepared from an unorganised huge convoluted MESS of a ramble

i've been thinking for a few days about this one like... what would a kevin POV look like? what is he hiding? how does he cope? WHO IS HE?

the kevin we ""know"" is a "coward", an insufferable bitch, an asshole and a hardass. other people's opinions and view of him makes up the entirety of our impression of who he is. but that's not who he is. that's just who we're supposed to believe he is.

kevin, born and bred to have this... borderline psychopathic lack of empathy, who can look his teammates in the eye after being told seth is dead or andrew is being committed and say, "what about the game?"

but when the raven's are switching districts; his sense of danger and fear is paralysing. he's three steps ahead trying to figure out how to please riko, how to keep himself safe, willing to put himself back into the centre of his abuse just to stop riko from finding him and killing him. he has to get blackout drunk to deal with any amount of riko. he's frozen with fear by being in the same room as him.

kevin knows where jean's mind and body goes to when hes panicking, knowing his worst place is right back in the nest being drowned by riko. kevin telling neil "do you know what he'll do to you?" and "he'll break you" when neil asks for his ticket. kevin's text to him before he goes into the nest, and staring at neil like he'd seen a ghost when neil returns after the nest (when he looks like the butcher). his comforting "i know what he's like" or "i know how he sees you, i know it means he did not hold back,".

kevin nervous breakdown panic attack day vs kevin smile for the cameras one track exy mind day

im so intrigued by him. how does he cope? his mother is dead, probably killed by the mafia family he was raised by. he grew up into a cult, he was only a child watching neil's father cut a man into pieces in front of him. how many other's had he seen?

how many other injuries cover his body, in places where the cameras can't see? how many rapes and assaults was he forced to watch in the nest? how many beatings was he forced to participate in? what did he have to say to jean in french that he didn't want riko to hear?

he needs someone with him all the time because of the nest. he's a "health freak" because of the nest. his sleep schedule, his anger, his anxiety.

did he say "what about the season?" re: andrew after drake because he doesn't care, or did he think "i've seen this happen too many times. and they've always kept playing,"? did he think "andrew is the strongest person i know. andrew is stronger than me. he would never let this destroy him," knowing that it has?

nobody has protected him in his life apart from the cameras and andrew.

he's scared. he doesn't know what love is supposed to look like.

he's only been a human for a year.

his scars are healing for the first time in his life and they're not being replaced by new ones, but every day he's afraid that that's going to get ripped out from underneath him. his entire life already got flipped upside down when he left the nest. of course exy is the only thing he "cares" about.

because it's the only thing that's been certain in his life, and even for those few weeks or months where he thought he would never play again, he trained and trained, and learned how to use his non-dominant hand because he can't lose this. he can't lose exy like he's lost everything else.

kevin has never had anything stable in his life except for violence and exy. now he has people he's supposed to care about, and he has to change his priorities. he has to learn how live a life that isn't fueled by self-preservation for the first time ever.

jean was only in the nest for five years; and look at him. look at what the nest has done to his social skills, his view of himself, his self esteem. look at what it's done to him, how he expects violence and contrition, coach and always waiting and waiting and waiting for the punishment to come.

kevin might not have had the same level of physical abuse that jean had, but he was there far longer. the ravens existed before him; their mindset and their abuse and their violence and their poison.

he's been drinking the raven poison since his childhood. the only difference between him and jean other than those things above is that kevin had more pressure to hide it, because he was half of the face of the ravens, half of the face of Exy; media trained or PR trained or a master at being a fraud and faking the way he speaks when he's being recorded.

kevin knows how to hide his abuse because he has always had to, and he's had quite a lot of practice at it.

kevin has only been a human for a year. kevin has only been kevin for a year.

so who is he? does he even know?

or is he just Kevin Day, Raven Fox starting striker, number two, six foot two, left handed right handed left handed, heavy racquet, stick size five? is that all he will ever see himself as?

anyways. or something like that. maybe he is just an insufferable bitch for no reason at all. who knows!

#just thinking about him okay.... #something something baby girl #oh god im so sorry once again that this got so long LMAO #kevin day #aftg #tfc

[perfecteggpartyland]

Man as much as I love Dan in king's men her getting angry at Kevin for not telling wymack that he is his dad doesn't make sense; like Dan I know you see coach as a father figure like all of them but have you not been paying attention girl?? Like Kevin ran from literal Yakuza and how do u think they would react ; did you think they would send wymack a gift basket if they knew??? It's been established that moriyamas are out of their minds; it does make sense I agree but like; once again they were literally a Yakuza; there was no way they would let wymack live ;at least for me she's human ofc she can have negative traits but like; as someone already said this in comments even Neil and whole team dismiss Kevin being raised in a actual cult and in the books Dan is being the right one ; like Neil at least you went to the nest ? you're supposed to get it the most; why Kevin kept quiet and also are you really surprised why Kevin didn't tell the team ? Yes he's been there for long but he gets treated like shit and constantly dismissed by the foxes? That being said I do love all of them to death and glad they have flaws; but sad they don't get acknowledged as much if you get what I'm saying

#AFTG #Like what do you want him to do? #and Kevin must have felt awful he suffered all those years in the nest only to find out how better life he would have with coach as a dad?? #andreil #the foxhole court #andrew minyard #neil josten #psu foxes #palmetto state foxes #all for the game #kevin day #david wymack #dan wilds #the king's men

[jtl-fics]

Fluent Freshman - 38

PREV

If it weren’t for the fact that he and Riko had stumbled across a truly traumatizing video of his birth that they had watched secretly in Tetsuji’s office when he was away on a business trip one weekend Kevin would believe that he was born with an Exy racquet in his hand. But the image that is seared into his retinas to this day has proven that he came into this world empty handed.

That doesn’t change the fact that Kevin has spent the majority of his life utterly and completely submersed in Exy. He was trained as a Raven, he was court, he was a champion as both a Raven as a Fox and if he had his way he’d leave college with more Championships under the orange and white than the black and red.

Exy was everything in the world to him.

He could overlook many personality defects if someone brought something to the Court.

Apathetic five foot nothing who was more likely to stab him than shake his hand? Well, he’s the best goalie that Kevin had ever seen in his entire life (and that was saying something).

Tight ass who has anger management issues and will not shut the fuck up about his girlfriend now that he’s not even allowed to have? Well, he is a very solid backliner who has excellent ball handling skills (even if Aaron keeps telling him to stop saying it like that or why he keeps yelling that he’s straight).

Overly touchy, too emotional, will not shut the fuck up about his fiancé in Germany? Well, he is a very solid backliner who is great at rebounds (Kevin doesn’t get why Nicky gets mad when he says that or why he brings up Erik).

Guy who actively dislikes him and is dying for any chance to punch him and also being overly attached to his friends? He’s a great enforcer on the court and had the stamina to play far longer than the other two backliners (Why Dan always said “yeah he does” whenever Kevin commented on Matt’s stamina he will never understand, and he also doesn’t want to.)

Suspicious kid from Millport with a mouth that could strip paint and a past so shrouded in mystery that it even had Andrew perking up in interest? Well, he’s the fastest Striker in the game and the only person that has ever kept up with Kevin’s obsession with the sport. (There was the minor downside that he was the son of the Butcher and almost died before the championships, but Neil pulled through.)

He tolerated all of them and now they’re his best friends.

There are some who he does find personally objectionable but so long as Jack and Sheena manage to continue to be good on the court he doesn’t care about the many many faults in their personalities. They’re his teammates, they aren’t his friends.

He accepted that he might not like any of the others that came onto the team. For the most part he had never given a shit about before the Foxes, content with his brotherhood with Riko even if it wasn’t…perfect. Then he became friends with FF and FF had done him a truly large favor and Kevin wanted to pay that back the best way he knew how. Through his truly infallible health advice and through perfectly crafted smoothies.

Then Daniel appeared with the truth that FF truly met all requirements to be a Fox and Kevin tasted his own smoothie for the first time.

He considered both revelations to be equally upsetting.

Still…

FF was one of the best dealers Kevin had ever had the pleasure to be on Court with. The man knew his position well and interrupted offensives with an enviable ease that made Kevin wish to possibly strap some sort of device onto him and figure out how he did certain things.

It wasn’t that far off to believe that a man raised in the same environment as FF could possibly have similar talents and since Lisa fucked off back to some small town cult they really did need a good sub. Sheena was a good offensive dealer but they had games coming up where defense would be imperative and FF did not have the stamina for a full game and likely would not for quite some time considering he’d be recovering from being stabbed.

So, he’d defended Daniel’s right to try out.

At first, he had felt vindicated. Daniel kept up quite well during the initial warm-ups. Kept pace with Jack, Sheena, Aaron, Andrew, and Nicky. Kevin had been bringing up the rear mostly to make sure that Andrew didn’t stab the guy during warm-ups.

Then it was time for the first precision drill.

The other thing about how Kevin was raised is that he was raised surrounded only by the best of the best. The Ravens were at the top of the Collegiate hierarchy. The National Court used their stadium for practice.

The worst Exy that Kevin had ever seen in his entire life up until the moment that Daniel took hold of an Exy racquet was still only the worst team in Collegiate Division 1 Exy.

Then Kevin watched the ball go so wide that the entire court went silent.

All of the drills that followed were as bad, if not worse.

Kevin felt himself start to vibrate with anger the longer it went on. He started to shout corrections at Daniel but the younger man merely rolled his eyes, “I think I know what I’m doing.” He would say before pointedly proving that he did not.

Kevin only realized nearly an hour in that he had wasted his entire practice shouting himself hoarse at the actual waste of human life that was Daniel Stanton.

Kevin could accept being bad at Exy and having an inoffensive personality. Kevin could accept being good at Exy and having a bad personality.

Kevin could not accept being bad at Exy and having a bad personality.

Coach Wymack called the practice to an end and Kevin thought that he’d manage to keep his anger mostly inside (he is ignoring the near hour of practice he spent screaming directions) when Daniel decided to deliver the Coup de Grace.

Sweat soaking his bangs, panting, and without a single thing done correctly (even the way he was currently holding his borrowed Exy racquet set Kevin’s teeth on edge) the man had the gall, the gumption, and the absolute AUDACITY to come up to the coach.

“So, where do I sign?” he asks.

Kevin sees red and unleashes hell.

***

This was the most fun Andrew has had at a practice since he started having to come to them.

The look of embarrassment on Daniel’s face as Kevin accurately tore into everything he did wrong on the Court and every personal failing that Kevin could home in on. His attention shifted away to FF sitting in the stands near the University official who was shaking her head at the obvious poor showing. The University may have wanted Daniel around to spruce up the Fox’s marketability but even they couldn’t let someone so obviously awful onto one of their few Division 1 teams.

FF was sat sipping one of Kevin’s god awful smoothies looking completely unshocked by Daniel’s showing.

Kevin turned his attention to FF, “You said he was good!” Kevin points at the freshman as he continues to sip the drink.

Andrew interrupts, “He never said he was good.” He remembers the conversation so exactly and there are few things he loves more than having the opportunity to rub it in Kevin’s face when the man is wrong, “He said ‘Daniel has always been athletic’ never anything about him being good.” Andrew reminds.

Kevin whips back around to Daniel, “Have you ever even played Exy?” Kevin demands.

“I didn’t think it’d be hard to pick up.” Daniel argues crossing his arms defensively.

It sets Kevin off on another furious rant.

Andrew had thought that FF didn’t have a mean bone in his body and he’s quite pleased to have been proven wrong. The thought that FF had let Daniel get all the way into embarrassing himself in such a way?

Andrew had to give him props.

“How does it feel getting to watch this idiot crash and burn?” he asks coming to the glass.

“Really thought he could manage it if I could.” FF says with a shrug that has Aaron bark out a laugh.

“You really figured?” Aaron asks coming to stand next to Andrew.

FF just shrugs again, “I mean I also started not knowing how to play and now I’m on a pretty good team.” He says as if FF starting as a child not knowing how to play is the same as someone walking in demanding a spot on a college team.

Nicky lets out a laugh.

“Oh, Smithy I could kiss you.” Nicky laughs and makes his way towards the Court entrance to likely do exactly that moving past a Daniel who was so red in the face with embarrassment and anger that he looked as if he was about to turn purple.

Andrew tuned in.

“…small pond. The only reason you ever felt like you were worth anything is that Smiths was too nice to put you in your place before now!” Kevin was probably talking about medium-sized fish in a small pond but Andrew didn’t really care to know.

“Are you going to let him talk to me like this?!” Daniel finally turned to Wymack.

“Kevin, you shouldn’t talk to the public like that.” Wymack says without a hint of chastisement in his voice.

Kevin still straightened at the reminder, “You’re right. Sorry coach.” Kevin sneered at Daniel, “Get off the court before you taint it.” He hisses.

“You’re really not going to sign me?!” Daniel demands.

“Why would I?” Wymack asks with a raised brow.

“You took a chance on John!” Daniel points towards FF.

Andrew watches as Wymack’s face does something he’d rarely seen it do, it goes utterly and completely cold. “I don’t take chances with my kids.” He spat, “I give my kids a second chance. Get the hell off of my court.” He hisses.

Daniel’s face purples further before he stomped off of the Court.

“Don’t you dare walk off with that racquet! It’s worth more than you!” Kevin shouts after him and Andrew in that moment realizes that Daniel is going to do something stupid.

And FF is on the other side of the Plexiglass with only Nicky at his side.

It’s like watching a train crash.

Daniel might say something, but Andrew doesn’t know. He sees Neil rushing as well, his sense of danger always well-honed but Neil had been in Captain mode in the moments before walking some of the sophomore and freshmen through what they had done wrong.

Neither of them will make it in time.

Daniel throws his racquet, and he throws it right at FF barely 5 feet away in the stands.

The Racquet blows past FF’s head and Andrew lets out a breath.

Then before it could crash into the seats behind him and break FF’s hand wrapped around the shaft of the stick and stopped it’s trajectory.

“Your aim really isn’t getting any better by not listening to Kevin’s advice.” Smith says as he twirls the racquet in his hand so that the net was on the ground. “Also, don’t break the equipment, like Kevin said it’s pretty expensive.” He says.

Daniel let out a primal scream but where Andrew had stalled out to watch the miraculous catch Matt Boyd had not. Daniel was tackled to the ground by the backliner, “Absolutely not.” Matt said with a scowl.

“Smithy are you okay?” Andrew hears Nicky ask.

“Yeah, why?” FF asks as if he hadn’t just been attacked but considering everything that Andrew had seen it wouldn’t shock him if Daniel’s attacks were just par for the course back home for FF. “The racquet looks okay too.” He adds.

“Coach Wymack,” The University representative made their way down looking flustered at the outburst of violence.

Obviously not someone who regularly watched Exy or paid attention to their team.

“This is why I wanted absolute control over who does and who doesn’t get a shot here.” Wymack hisses pointing at Daniel as he struggled under Matt.

“You have our sincere apologies for this.” She says looking at Daniel, “He didn’t… we thought he’d be good for the team’s culture but it seems like we may have misjudged-“

“That guy just tried to take Smithy out!” Nicky interrupts.

“I told you he was dangerous.” Neil adds.

“Can someone call campus security?” Matt asks from the ground, “This jackass keeps aiming for kidney punches and I would like to not be pissing blood during winter break.” Matt requests.

“O-of course!” the University representative says fumbling for her cell phone.

Andrew looked at Matt and figured that the backliner had a handle on that particular mess at the moment.

He made his way over to FF and Nicky who was checking over the freshman.

“Nice catch.” He says.

FF shrugs, “It’s my racquet he was borrowing.” He says, “I didn’t want to get a new one.” He adds.

***

FF watches as campus security took custody of Daniel as he continued to spit and scream. There are talks about pressing charges, but FF just wants Daniel off of the campus and away from him. It’s Jack of all people who says that getting a restraining order is a great way to make sure Daniel stays the hell away from him and FF nods consideringly.

Honestly, he’s still mostly in shock he managed to catch his racquet the way he had. His reflexes weren’t quite up to snuff since he’d been trying to catch the netting, but his hand only closed around the shaft.

Embarrassing.

He really hopes no one teases him about his slower reflexes.

“He needs to be charged for assault at least.” Kevin hisses as they watch the security officers take Daniel away.

“It’d be attempted assault.” Aaron corrects.

“He assaulted my eyes with his Exy.” Kevin insists.

“If that counted as assault, don’t you think I would have pressed charges for all the times I have had to see you dance at Eden’s?” Neil asks. “Also, you’re the one that insisted he try-out.” He reminds.

“Smiths told me he was good!” Kevin screeches.

“No, we’ve been over this Day. Smithy said he was athletic.” Nicky reminds. “Are you going to do what Jack suggested?” he asks turning to FF.

“I’d like to see significantly less of Daniel.” FF admits.

“You know he did actually commit assault, if I pee blood I’m making Kevin go buy me pads.” Matt says.

“Whatever.” Kevin says as they continued to make their way back to the dorm to get ready for the day.

MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU

NEXT

#Fluent Freshman AU #Up next is the Winter banquet and Winter break #looking forward to that as well #I'd like to thank Snow for their help with some decisions made in this chap #and declunkifying some of my phrasing #I would also like to thank the new Jujutsu Kaisen OP for being a banger #also Unfathomed Force from Trails to Azure OST for continuing to be a banger #Grandma Smith is heading home in the next part which makes me sad even if she hasn't featured a lot in the drafts since the hospital #Daniel absolutely ends up punching a security guard #And ending up in like a holding cell at a real police station #He has one call #And he calls Smith's number demanding he come and help him get out #too bad the only number he has is a phone sitting in Wymack's desk #Guess someone else is gonna have to come and pay bail and help Daniel outta there #also my apologies for putting Daniel on u Elle Woods but it's for the meme #Also also I would like to give a shoutout to Matt Boyd who made the 'save of the day' #Its an award usually for goalies but u da real MVP today #AFTG #AFTG OC #AFTG AU #FF - 38

[emry-stars-art]

Oooh do go on about raven neil and jean 👀 (if you’re so inclined ☺️) - @neil-jostenminyard

*chanting* raven Neil raven Neil raven Neil (and lots of Jean) (quite possibly even jeaneil) (although most of the thoughts are post-ravens lol)

So my personal thoughts about this are also mostly thanks to chats and inspiration/prompting from @jtl-fics and @greenautumnleaves so if you see any additions from them on this post it's most likely also thoughts I adore lol

Anyway this got kind of long so:

I ALSO latched onto Sakavic's statement that Neil wouldn't leave Jean in the nest bc yeah it makes sense and also ow

But just the two of them being partnered up like Riko and Kevin as is common in these aus, and then after Kevin gets out first, they have to stick together and rely on each other even MORE because Riko is pissed that Kevin is gone and probably takes it out on the next closest two idk

But in our imaginings, Renee or Andrew get Jean out quicker than in canon, again because Neil would refuse to leave Jean behind and I can only imagine he'd go so far as to trick or manipulate Jean into leaving. Maybe by being at a certain place at a certain time to get picked up, however he can make it happen. But the issue we run into is that once that's done, what the hell would Neil have left at Evermore, besides Exy that maybe he still loves deep down. But Exy's been so warped being raised on it at the nest that at that point his obsession is barely recognizable.

Kevin might recognize this, because he knew Neil in the nest. Or at least he knew the person that Neil presented himself as. But it's probably more likely that Jean recognizes this, and yeah things are super rocky and weird but Jean can barely even function without Neil. So back a fox goes to rescue their second raven's partner.

They bring Neil back to Palmetto and he and Jean are completely inseparable. Emotionally and physically. Neither of them act like, feel like, or even call themselves "touchy feely" or "clingy" people but as soon as Neil is treated for various intense and mysterious injuries, they're curled up in some hidden place for hours. Even the short time having left Neil behind made Jean almost too anxious to leave his room. Even the short time without Jean - now with more punishment for aiding Jean's escape - was enough for Neil to consider something drastic.

(side note: Andrew now has not one, not two, but three gorgeous tragic boys under his supervision and I'm sure he's handling that totally normally lmao. But it's so obvious to him that Jean and Neil have something going on that any ideas for himself aren't worth entertaining.)

So it's a little easier to ease out of various habits and thought processes because Jean and Neil are doing it together, with outside help. They fix their sleep cycles/rhythms, try a slightly more normal college diet, and most slowly lose their "win or die" mindset in practices. They're still never seen without each other - Wymack had a talk with some of the school board about their schedules and dorm arrangements for the first semester. In reality, he's not sure if he should have them go cold turkey on raven habits or if he should take it slower, but he's doing his damn best to get these boys adjusted to life outside a cult. And Neil and Jean, whether or not they actively realize it, find that step to be the one they absolutely cannot take. Why would they go through the agony of learning to live separately if they don't have to. When no one else understands them like the other, when they've already seen each other's worst so nothing else is worth keeping secret between them. Who else is Jean going to go to when having a better life makes him feel like he more deserves death or punishment and the guilt hits him so hard he can't breathe, much less sleep. Who else is Neil going to go to when he can't let go of his birthright - if he isn't good at what he does (Exy) he literally could just be shot like a lame horse - and he's not allowed to go practice Exy against a wall to the point of tearing himself apart anymore so he forces his feet away from the court to find the only person he knows he'll listen to when they say no.

Kevin, of course, is keeping a close eye on the two, whether unintentionally or on purpose is unclear. Neil still has a mouth on him, he sometimes plays mind games with the foxes like chess against himself, and most of all does not allow anyone to get too close to Jean. Jean is still quiet, having learned not only to take a punishment without resistance but also that Neil will speak first. Neil will resist so Jean doesn't have to. He's safer in Neil's shadow.

Maybe it's a phrase or warning that Neil uses and that Kevin recognizes. Maybe it's a gesture between Neil and Jean that Kevin oversees. Maybe it's just the general demeanor of the two. But whatever it is is familiar to Kevin, not in a "I remember this from them in the nest" way. He can recognize by now that Riko was not good to him, he can acknowledge it even if the rest of him hasn't caught up. He looks at Jean in Neil's shadow and remembers himself in Riko's.

As if Butcher's son Nathaniel Wesninski wasn't already scary enough on his own.

But Kevin won't allow this kind of thing on his court, and he's not good at it but he is still trying to let go of unhealthy raven ideals. If Neil is holding onto some fucked up dynamic, Kevin is going to put a stop to it.

He pulls Jean aside, a miraculous feat. He asks what Neil has done.

"Mistake" might be an understatement.

It could very easily be the longest string of words Jean has said to anyone besides Neil. Kevin doesn't know near as much French as he does in canon - Neil is the one that shares that secret defiance - so it's all clear English, Jean making sure Kevin understands every word. Kevin should never speak about Neil that way again. He knows nothing about them, he shouldn't so much as pretend to understand Neil. Neil is the only good thing that ever happened to Jean. Kevin never cared enough to bring it up in the nest, so he has no right to start caring now.

It isn't great for their already tumultuous relationship. Kevin wonders for a bit if Jean would tell Neil about it - then next practice Neil doesn't even try to work with Kevin, even after the two had made it a point as strikers to figure out how to. He ignores the other strikers entirely, falling immediately and seamlessly into perfect synch with Jean behind him, speaking hardly a word of English the whole practice. Because he knows that will make Kevin even more angry than Neil being actively hostile to his new teammates.

Kevin isn't sure what he was expecting. Chances are Jean hadn't even needed to bring it up for Neil to notice something was off.

As for Andrew, I think he could still pick up a game of truths. He'd need to offer a similar deal as he did for canon Neil, this time for Neil-and-Jean, the entity of the two of them together. I think he could ensure some cooperation by saying he won't force Jean and Neil apart from each other the way some others have muttered about doing. Even if Neil knows by now the codependence isn't healthy, neither of them are ready to give it up.

It probably really throws Andrew to hear that they don't consider themselves to be an item. They're together, sure, but for a raven that doesn't always, maybe even rarely, means "in a traditional relationship". Neil and Jean definitely never offer any clarification. That's no one else's business, even if they could explain it so that a non-raven could understand. Generally I feel like if this is an andreil universe, it's an even longer, stranger, more winding road to get there than in canon.

I'm almost CERTAIN there's more Im forgetting about rn but this has been my taster on raven Neil+Jean, I hope it was at least a little bit coherent, and greenautumnleaves - I hope this comes anywhere close to your galaxy brain ideas on these two lol. Maybe I'll be back with other thoughts later who knows

#maybe i lied. maybe i will make raven neil/jean art of my own accord #because if any other pairing in the series drives me crazy it is whatever tf these two have going on #thank you for allowing me to text dump lmao #not art sorry guys #neil josten #jean moreau #jeaneil #nathaniel wesninski #raven neil au #oh also. i had to throw andrew in there not because of my vanilla shipping tendencies #but because theres far too many ways for things to go so wrong and end so badly for him in universes where he doesnt have neil #so he at LEAST has a bit of something. does this make sense

[foxstens]

do you even know what the word means when you call kevin a coward

if not spouting insults at every available opportunity makes you a coward then a lot of characters, a lot of foxes are in fact cowards

but put yourself in kevin's shoes for a moment

he was taken in by tetsuji when he was a child grieving his mother's death, and passed off to riko as his pet

he watched the butcher chop a man to pieces when he was, what, 11 years old? that was supposed to teach him what happens to those who defy the moriyamas

he spent a decade in a cult, running on 16 hour days, always in the same room as riko, navigating the line between beloved brother and punching bag

tetsuji definitely didn't spare him the physical punishments and brainwashing, which means he probably spent most of that time thinking that was how the world operated, that it is normal, that not getting to choose what he eats and what he wears and that being hit by his coaches with his own raquet is just how it's supposed to be. that it's normal to be raised to care about nothing but exy. that 'the master knows best'. maybe he didn't even see a lot of it for the abuse it was.

and riko. the extra content says riko got worse as they grew older but by that time kevin had forgotten how to fight back. is it really that surprising? it took jean five months to break. kevin had been there for years by the time jean came along

they grew up together, they were obsessed with each other, kevin needed riko and it didn't matter how much riko hurt him. but then riko undid it all in a heartbeat because he was insecure. kevin watched him destroy everything he had built up over the years because riko was afraid of kevin's potential. and yet i firmly believe kevin only had the strength to leave because of his mother's letter. had he not left, he would not have survived.

we don't get to see how much kevin struggled with adjusting to life outside the nest but that doesn't mean he didn't struggle. and then he finds out about the district change and he has a nervous breakdown, of course he does. he says it himself, tetsuji could pay off his scholarship in a heartbeat and if tetsuji tells him to go back, he will. but he can't go back because riko will kill him if he does. and kevin knows what riko, what the moriyamas are capable of, we see it directly through the series. who wouldn't be terrified in his place.

but the thing is, kevin does stand up to him. he freezes during kathy's show because riko is to him what neil's father is to neil, but then backstage when riko goes to hurt neil kevin does try to stop him. when the foxes first play against the ravens and lose, kevin looks riko in the eye and says he's satisfied. when he finds out neil's identity he tells neil to run despite knowing it'd cost them the season.

WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM HIM

#my posts #all for the game #aftg #kevin day #tsc spoilers #my rants #there's a lot i didn't mention abt kevin himself #i also didn't even mention the consequences neil's attitude has #i didn't even mention that neil's perspective of kevin is flawed #and perhaps a tiny bit hypocritical especially after he spent 2 weeks with riko #i just had to get it out of my system #bc we have 4 books spelling it out and i can't believe we're still having this conversation

[scholliski]

do you think anyone ever starts making connections between Kayleigh’s car crash and tetsuji? I can’t imagine that no questions are raised once he is fired for abuse and running a cult years after his best friend happens to die in a car accident that leaves the exy fortune and Kevin day solely to him…

#like I know tetsuji didn’t intend for kengo to kill her #but like he still did you know?? #I know id start raising red flags #aftg #all for the game #andrew minyard #neil josten #the foxhole court #tfc #andreil #all for the gay #aftg shitpost #shitpost #tetsuji moriyama #kengo moriyama #moriyamas #riko moriyama

[joanofexys]

if you're writing about the nest/ravens/riko/kevin/jean/literally anything in that realm please know that as a cult survivor my asks and messages are always open. i was raised in a religious cult so my experiences are obviously a bit different but i am always happy to do my best to help y'all

#tsc #aftg #the sunshine court #all for the game #jean moreau #kevin day #edgar allan ravens #neil josten #riko moriyama #jeremy knox #andrew minyard

[hypnostouched]

just saw someone say 'riko could have ended the entire cycle of abuse because he should have been smart enough to know what he was doing'

sure its the job of the currently being abused teenager who was raised in a cult to fix likely generations of yakuza based abuse and not the adults in his life's job to be fucking better

be so for real, you can hate him but this fandom is so fucking gross about how they talk about abuse

i keep seeing people hating on kevin for leaving jean behind as well and as a person who had to leave their brother behind when they were escaping an abusive household, it makes me fucking sick to hear your bullshit

#aftg #all for the game #riko moriyama #kevin day

[broken-heart-raven-queen]

As I see it we have 2 possible Jeans to meet:

1) One who is convinced that he (and everyone for that matter) deserved all the things that happened in the Nest and just doesn't compute about normal human interactions. This Jean probably still thinks that Neil needed to shut up and obey Riko, hates Kevin and it's very pessimistic.

Or

2) One who tried his best to still grasp some of the outside world, that is sad because his friend leaved him but happy that he found a better place to stay, that didn't really wanted to be involved with other Ravens and did what was told. That doesn't understand how people could accept someone this broken, and is glad that Neil appeared in his life and gave Renee his number and that Kevin convinced Jeremy that he was worthy of a chance.

And as I write this, I hope that we have an algamation of both Jean's. The one that was raised in a cult but still kept stickers and post cards, the one that's jealous Kevin could scape but do not want to change the past and would've helped him a million times again. The one that doesn't understand that the Trojans are friendly and aren't gonna cut him for letting a ball past but also would shout to a freshman that didn't score a perfectly easy goal. The one that thinks he didn't deserve a redemption and the one that knows he did it all to survive.

#aftg #all for the game #aftg brainrot #nora sakavic #jean moreau #raven jean #i just love jean #the nest #neil josten #kevin day #riko moriyama #renee walker #jeremy knox #jerejean #jeanee #tsc #tsc hc #the sunshine court hc

[dayurno]

i just saw what you reposted about kevin being the problem child of doomed homoerotic relationships and nora saying that’s something kevin would do we already have solid proof of jean and basically all of aftg to prove he’s a siren to troubled men do u have any hc about how that happened? especially with kandrew i love them sm they’re truly one of my favorite aftg pairs but like in the question i always assumed it was andrew but now ik it’s kevin it almost makes it better idk?!? like a desperately devoted andrew plus being hopelessly in love with kevin and he obviously was doing it to andrew and neil but imagine if on a smaller scale it was also the rest of the foxes?? but also i can’t tell if he truly was the problem child or just extremely sheltered from and didn’t know how to interact with people so when he’s direct and earnest they fall in love on the spot  

I REALLY DONT KNOW AT ALL................... i think part of it is kevin being earnest and open about it in a way someone who hasnt been raised in a cult Wouldn't be but it's just really also. the kind of people he's doing it to.... i mean jean at the point he met kevin he'd been homeschooled with violent parents his only friend was his sister and then again jean was literally raising her on his 13 year old shoulders. and then kevin looks at him, and smiles at him, and asks to learn french, and says "i don't want to lose you". has anyone told jean that before???????? has there been anyone, ever, to say you are something worth keeping? you are something i can't lose? YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND. it's not just that kevin is a problem child it's that he chooses to say these things when you have literally no way to defend yourself

and the same for andrew are you crazy........ you're worth it. DO YOU UNDERSTAND...... has anyone ever told andrew that before? you're worth the trouble? i won't give up? i'll stay right here even if you fumble and kick and scream and refuse to play with me? I MEAN IT'S SERIOUSLY SICK. it's sick. it's horrible. he's so earnest. why is he like this. no wonder andrew was fighting wars and pulling knives this is the first time someone looked him in the eye and said no matter what you do i'm Not going to give up on you. and then he didn't even when andrew was a real fucking cunt about it. should we all just explode.

#i couldnt be normal #i wouldnt be #andrew and jean were not #no one was really but. you understand. #WHY IS HE THIS WAY #KEVINNNNNNNNNNNNN #he does these things and he doesnt even want you like he just says this stuff because hes like this #its not even on purpose #im so fucking sick to my stomach. #also yeah it could happen to the other foxes 100% #this is how it can happen to matt. and allison. and renee #asks #kevin #kandrew #kevjean

[kqluckity]

jean: says literally the craziest, most "i was raised in a cult" shit like it's a normal thing

everyone else except for like. maybe kevin or neil sometimes:

#neil judges him. kevin understands. everyone else is concerned #but also neil understands too it's just that being a bitch is his default mode to everything #tsc #aftg #I'm halfway through this book already and i started it at like. 1am. i also slept.

[fortheloveofexy]

locking things down... clearly my original point was getting lost in the uproar. just to clarify:

I don't think people who fall for cults are idiots.

I don't think I'm somehow "so special" or whatever that I couldn't fall for a cult.

I don't think the rest of the Ravens had it easy-peasy and weren't also subjected to abuse. Obviously, they were also victims. My point was that I found it hard to believe they didn't know what Riko was doing to Jean and Kevin behind closed doors.

I do in fact know what it is like to live in a high-control group, because I was raised in a highly conservative evangelical sect. I only got out when I was fourteen because my parents left the church when it was discovered the youth pastor was sexually abusing multiple teenage girls. (The church told everyone he'd "strayed from God" and "committed adultery". He got to keep his job, though)

I don't think it's a "privileged take" to say you should not be complicit in severe abuse, even if it costs you a scholarship, financial security or a future career opportunity. I think that's just called having morals.

I blocked a few people on that post who were being condescending or downright insulting. I'm not here to pick fights with people and I probably should have been a little more clear in my wording on my original post, but I also won't sit there silently as people invalidate my experiences with cult-like environments or take what I was saying out of context.

#sa mention